Newspaper Article

France Releases 5 Terrorists And Sends Them to Teheran

MARLISE SIMONS, Special to The New York Times

1990

Overview

He said ''there has been suspicion that France was looking for a decent interval'' before releasing Mr. [Naccache] and the others. ''This can either be seen as fulfilling an old agreement, avoiding the possibility of provoking new terrorist operations against French nationals, or as part of a larger diplomatic effort to insure good relations in the Middle East,'' he said. Mr. Bahktiar, who lives in Paris, made several appearances on television tonight and seemed annoyed. He told an interviewer: ''I think that the West may have the illusion that by making concessions to the moderate clergy, or what is called the moderate clergy, they will benefit. This is an illusion.'' In another newscast he said, ''How can you exchange assassins for innocent people?'' By making one concession after another, he said, ''you end up capitulating.'' Five convicted terrorists have been freed by France and sent to Iran, but France has denied that a ''deal or exchange'' was made. From left are Anis Naccache, Salaheddine al-Kaara, Fauozi Mohammed al-Satari, Mehdi Nejad Tabrizzi and Mohammed Jawat Jeneb. (Photographs by Reuters)

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: FRANCE-INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS-IRAN / HOSTAGES / INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS / Mitterrand, Francois / NACCACHE, ANIS / SIMONS, MARLISE / TERRORISM